The generalist advantage - part three - a new role enters the arena

By the end of 2026 the highest-ROI hire at early-stage startups will be someone who doesn’t fit any existing job title. Not a PM. Not a developer. Not a designer. Someone who can do all three well enough and ship fast enough that traditional role boundaries don’t matter.

Someone with 10-20 years of experience who’s not the best developer and not the best product manager, but they see the whole product. They have the helicopter view that comes from doing this for decades. They know what actually matters versus what’s theater.

A year ago this person was a unicorn hire. They existed but had to choose where to spend their time. AI makes it achievable now. Not because AI replaces experience, but because it amplifies it.

Claude Code can write the checkout flow but it can’t tell you that adding one more step will kill conversion. It doesn’t have the scar tissue from shipping products that failed in interesting ways. Gut feeling still matters and gut feeling comes from experience.

The startups of the future will need fewer people and those people will be generalists. It’s a way to have a longer runway and a way to move faster than your competitors.

This is the time to be a generalist.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​